The Ornament
by inexplainable
Summary: They're celebrating their first Christmas as a family and Austin commemorates it the best way he knows how to - with a new ornament for their tree.


_Mr. Austin and Mrs. Allete "Ally" Moon are proud to announce the birth of their first child, a daughter named Aislinn Patricia Moon, born December 24th at 11:47 p.m. at Miami's Baptist Health South Florida Hospital. Weighing 7 lbs, 15 oz and 19 inches long, Aislinn would love to meet you this weekend at her grandparents, Mike and Mimi Moon, home where she will celebrate her first Christmas and her father's 30th birthday._

Ally smiled back at the announcement on her in-laws refrigerator, brushing her fingers over the tiny image of her newborn daughter that was posted around to close family and friends only. It had only been a few days since she and Aislinn were discharged from the hospital and while she didn't want her daughter to be overwhelmed by everything, she was looking forward to introducing her to the people who were most important to her. She pulled open the door, reaching for the box of strawberries she had set out to get and grabbed one of the coconut waters as well.

Mimi, her amazing mother-in-law, had taken a break from cooking the yummiest smelling meal her nose had sniffed. There was turkey and meatloaf, because apparently Mike didn't like turkey, with casseroles, pies galore and even a mini stack of pancakes for Austin...because, well, it was Austin. Right now it was Ally's turn to make a few desserts for the party, which was kicking off in just a few hours. She double checked her ingredients and turned back around to grab the knife and flat pan she pulled out just minutes before the fruit. She had her whipped cream, the dowels and the shortcakes, which Mimi had baked up for her before their new little family arrived. Ally had planned to make mini-Santas with the berries, but when she tried to at their own home, they kept getting ruined and then Austin had eaten all of them. So, she was going another way.

Shortcake, cream, berrie, cream, shortcake, berrie, cream, dowel. Shortcake, cream, berrie, cream, shortcake, berrie, cream, dowel. Ally repeated the process time after time and had about fifteen of them done as Mimi came back in the kitchen.

"Oh, those look delicious, Ally."

"Thanks Mimi. I just hope they don't all disappear before everyone gets here. Austin kept eating the other ones I made at home."

"That's a Moon for ya," she told her and they both laughed about it. That was something that Austin and his father shared - their appetite for food. They were both a tiny bit picky, but if you put a plate of food within a room of them, they would find and devour it without you even knowing it. Like a sniffer dog at the airport.

The two Moon wives worked alongside each other when she heard Austin's soothing voice singing a little carol in the family room. Humming along with him, Ally watched him bounce their new little bundle up and down to the beat and smiled softly. When she had first told him that she was pregnant, he was stunned silent. It took her making three stacks of pancakes for him to snap out of his statue-like state. Immediately after that, he couldn't stop moving or rambling about how they were living in the wrong place, they'd have to baby proof everything fast, he'd have to rush his new album, she'd have to speed up promo on hers. His freakout was the one thing she'd never ever forget, just like he wouldn't forget hers that happened a month later when they put the announcement on both of their websites and almost broke the internet.

Ally watched him kiss Aislinn's head, and assumed she was asleep like she loved to do during the day and loved getting them up in the night even more. Ally would love it even more if she was awake, just so they could try and get a full night tonight. They weren't complaining...well, maybe she was a little, and she wasn't regretting one moment with her daughter so far, but one night of sleep was a luxury she'd gladly like under the Christmas tree.

"And this one, this one is from when I became best friends with your Uncle Dez."

Ally chuckled at her husband of five years, smirking at the way he told his stories about the ornaments on his parents' tree. He placed the floppy dog back on the limb and pointed out another one to the baby as she silently walked up behind him and watched them together.

"This one, is one of my favorites," he pointed out a race car painted with the wildest of colors all over it. "It was one of my very first ones and I was determined to be a dirt car racer. Things definitely changed," Austin snorted at the memory and Ally covered her mouth so the laughter wouldn't spill over. "Oh, and this one," he pulled another down, the dangling glass bulb glittering in the sunlight spilling in from the giant picture window in back. "I got this one for your grandmother after my first album."

Ally's lips curled into a smile. Austin was a holiday baby too, his birthday falling just before New Year's Eve on the 29th, which was tomorrow. For as long as she had known him - which was almost fifteen years now (wow, how time flies) - he'd always had a thing about Christmas and New Year's and making them special. His proposal came on New Year's Eve, their elopement on New Year's Day the next year, buying their first home around Christmas and then Aislinn came on Christmas Eve. All the ornaments on the sky high tree and Ally predicted that by the time their little girl was three, she would know them all...at least if Austin had any say in it.

"And this one," Austin pulled down a candy apple red heart shaped one that she knew too well. "This one was the one that made your mother fall in love with me, even if she messed up the first one."

"Liar," she muttered and Austin turned to her. "You just told our daughter her first lie."

"I'm not lying. You did. Don't you remember?"

"I remember you and Dez and glitter everywhere and me not being anywhere near the disaster."

He scoffed at her. "Now who's the liar. You were just as glittery as we were. It was red glitter too."

"The only reason I was glittery was because I was stuck cleaning it all up while you and Dez attempted to shut down whatever his dad's invention was called. The practice room looked like a unicorn had thrown up all over it for the entire year after it."

In truth, Ally was right. It was just after Austin had parted ways with Starr Records and in between the legal battle for his (and her) music the four friends were once again reunited for the holidays and to ease their stress - from Dez' future film career and studies, Trish's many many clients and her deciding when and if she wanted to go back on tour or head to college - with a bit of ornament making. It was Dez's dad's new invention and he claimed it was a simple 1-2-3 to make your very own, amazing and beautiful ornaments...and as most of his inventions go, it did work...for about three minutes before glitter and glue were shot back at the four makers, with hammers and screwdrivers shooting up out of nowhere and tried to chop their hands off. While Trish bolted out of the room, Dez and Austin got most of the glitter and glue on them, and she had ducked and covered, but still had some on her hands and face before destroying the invention with her own hammer.

Austin thought back to that practice room...the one that was still standing and he tried to visit every so often. It was where his life started after all. He looked back at the baby girl in his arms...his whole life. "It was a very pretty practice room after that."

"Do you not remember that while you and Dez tried, emphasis on tried, to shut that thing down, I actually destroyed it and the only thing left was the pieces of chopped up metal?"

"Um..."

"And then, then you went and got Dez's dad to rebuild the machine and then you made this one," she pointed to the ornament in his hand and looked down at her daughter. "And yes, my Aislinn, that's when I fell in love with your father all over again." Ally looked up at Austin again, loving how his eyes smiled down at her. She leaned in for a kiss from him but didn't even get her chance when her father came in and stole their daughter from them.

"Where's my little lovebug? Gimme," Lester slipped her from Austin's arms and into his own, taking her away to somewhere else in the home all while giving her kisses all over her face.

Austin placed the ornament back on the tree and grabbed Ally's hands. "All over again?"

"Mmhmm. You were so determined to make that thing and it was the best present I got that year...or since then."

"We're never leaving her alone with Dez."

"Ever," she laughed, a sweet kiss from him gracing her light pink lips and curling up into a crescent before she saw a new red box in his other hand. "What's that?"

"This is for you," he placed it in her hand and watched as the ribbon around it hit the floor in a flash. It wasn't a push present and if it was, she would kill him on the spot. She didn't want one, was adamant about it and this definitely was not one.

Ally gasped as she pulled out the brand new ornament, dangling it from her fingers. _Aislinn's First Christmas_, it read. It wasn't fancy or over the top. It was a dough ornament - the ones you could make at home and without heaps of glitter. Ally let her thumb flitter over the tiny fingerprints and started to tear up at the picture on it. It wasn't a glamorous photo; in fact, it was actually the worst one - her hair was matted against her head, she was sweaty and tired after just been in labor for fifteen hours; but the picture was everything. It was the moment the nurse had placed tiny Aislinn in her arms and her light eyes stared back up at her. It was the moment she finally became a mother. "Austin..."

"It doesn't go on this tree though. It'll go on ours. At home. We just don't have one right now, but I wanted you to have this one now. This is our first Christmas as a family, a little one and I wanted you to have something to really remember it by."

"Austin, I remember every Christmas with you," she held onto the item in her hand. "And this one, will always be memorable," she kissed him again. "Since it is the one where you lied."

Austin shook his head against her lips, smiling at her jab. "Merry Christmas Ally."

"Merry Christmas."


End file.
